"I want it to be in malls and I want kids to buy it. Even if you’re not a teenager, but you have that young-at-heart feeling. I want it to be more accessible. Look, I’m not trying to be Versace. That’s not really my market. It’s kind of like pop music—I want it to be fun and it’s not going to break the bank. You get a piece of the happiness...I’ve always been really in-tune with Marilyn Monroe. She’s always been an icon to me. Her presence has always been there in my designs. Anna Nicole Smith did “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” on the runway. My friend, Amanda Lepore, was Monroe in one of my shows. So this show is based, loosely, around Marie Antoinette meets Marilyn Monroe—but modern."

He also talks about his experience with Heatherette: "I had a lot of bad experiences with Heatherette, with investors trying to take advantage of Traver and me. They really tried to ruin our lives. We had to go to court, deal with lawsuits, that kind of thing. It’s amazing to me how greedy people are. And it’s amazing to me to see how people can be so insensitive. But there’s no bad blood between Traver and me, there was never a falling out. I’m excited to be on my own now. I don’t have to answer to any other people. I’m doing what I believe in and if two people show up to the show, well, at least they’ll know I did it."

Cuba to offer free gender reassignment surgery under national healthcare plan: "Cuban doctors are currently training with Belgian surgeons, said Mariela Castro, daughter of President Raul Castro and director of CENESEX, Cuba's sex education center, who also said that 28 people are seeking the procedure, last performed in 1988 to massive public protest."

World Health Organization says threat of global heterosexual AIDS pandemic over: "Dr De Cock, an epidemiologist who has spent much of his career leading the battle against the disease, said understanding of the threat posed by the virus had changed. Whereas once it was seen as a risk to populations everywhere, it was now recognised that, outside sub-Saharan Africa, it was confined to high-risk groups including men who have sex with men, injecting drug users, and sex workers and their clients."

New Philadelphia police commissioner Charles H. Ramsey implementing policies to make officers, community, feel safer: "My goal is to create an environment where officers don't feel intimidated in any way. If they want to acknowledge [their sexuality], they should feel comfortable doing it." Also, "[LGBT people] don't have faith that the police will do something (if a hate crime is reported). We want to make sure they feel comfortable telling us about any issue that needs to be addressed...We need to be very sensitive to that."

New Provincetown police chief walks daily Commercial street beat: "We’re going to take an aggressive approach, and hate crimes will not be tolerated on any level...Certainly [I haven’t worked in such a heavily gay community] to the extent that I have here in Provincetown, but I’m not shy about it. I feel we need to provide a safe haven, a safe environment. I know there have been a few incidents over the years that have given the community of Provincetown a black eye. I don’t want to see that continue. ... We’re going to take an aggressive approach, and hate crimes will not be tolerated on any level. But I do try to put a positive spin on things, and a lot of good things have happened as well."

250 same-sex couples signed up so far to marry in San Diego County in June: "The most popular location is the County Administration Center in downtown San Diego. There are 186 wedding appointments at the center so far. Clerk Greg Smith is shifting employees around to meet the demand and said he will be able to handle about 300 weddings a day."

Filmmaker Alek Keshishian on board for sequel to 1991's Madonna documentary Truth or Dare: "And the film will act as a reunion for Madonna - she has reportedly signed up most of the original production team for the new venture. Keshishian is set to film the superstar over three weeks as she goes about her day-to-day life in London, according Britain's The London Paper. A source tells the publication, 'It's like an In Bed With Madonna but made for today. She leads an amazing, high-paced life now and Alex thought the time was right to do another documentary of her life and career.' The original documentary followed the star as she embarked on her hit 1990 Blonde Ambition tour, and proved a hit with fans, grossing £29 million (£14.5 million) at the global box office."

Genre editor Neal Boulton takes on homophobic bully: ""I was at my bar American Trash last night and Neal Boulton was there. One of the usual meatheads got wasted and picked a fight with a guy he thought was a fag. He called him a fag. and some guy who we figured out later was Neil stepped in and gave the guy who called the gay guy a fag a major pounding out on the sidewalk. Boulton got hit pretty hard but slugged back big time. It was nothing till we realized who was fighting who and that Neal is gay and all. Dude had balls."t

Protest as hundreds gather in Mountain View, California to 'pray the gay away': " A traveling national conference billed as an event 'to provide help for those struggling - and those whose loved ones struggle - with unwanted same-sex attractions,' drew about 700 people to a Mountain View church on Saturday. The gathering at the evangelical Christian church, Abundant Life Christian Fellowship, also drew a small protest by members of the Bay Area's gay and lesbian community incensed by the conference topic, the longstanding controversy on whether gays can be 'converted' - or turned into so-called 'ex-gays' through a Christian 'step out' program."

Hundreds protest marriage equality in Norway: "The protesters included immigrants and native Norwegians, and they came from the villages and the cities. All were firmly against marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples."

Gay fashion duo Heatherette out of business. "The demise of Heatherette has been months in the making. The label actually canceled their fashion week show in February, though founder Traver Rains claimed at the time that he and partner Richie Rich were simply reorganizing the company and would be back in time for next fashion week. The reorganization was supposed to involve finding a new financial backer after Rich and Rains burned through the $6 million given to them by the Weisfeld Group, owner of urban streetwear outfit FUBU; a source tells Radar that the duo's efforts were unsuccessful, and that Rains and Travers have now amicably parted ways."

With opening of Chaps II, leather scene returning to San Francisco's SoMA district: "On Friday, David Morgan threw open the doors to Chaps II, the most recent indication that leather is making a comeback in SoMa. 'There's a resurgence happening,' said Morgan, 39. 'A lot of people have been saying the leather scene was dead, but there just wasn't a place for people to meet up. ... Gearing up in leather and going to a bar where you're the only one dressed is kind of like a woman going to a bar in a ball gown while everyone else is in T-shirts.' Chaps II, at 1225 Folsom St., is named for Chaps, a bar that operated from 1983-85 on 11th Street, where the DNA Lounge is now located. Appropriately enough, Chaps II hosted a meet-and-greet to open the 30th anniversary Mr. San Francisco Leather contest, which concluded Sunday. Next year, one of the contest's events might take place at another leather bar, Hole in the Wall, which Morgan says plans to reopen soon."

Gay man arrested for using gay slur towards a police officer: "A gay man has been accused of homophobic breach of the peace - for allegedly calling an ex-police officer a p**f. Marc Sneddon, 38, clashed with former detective Stephen Whelehan while walking their dogs. He was charged and his partner Graham Spence - a police IT worker - was later arrested over claims he also shouted homophobic abuse on another occasion. The couple deny the claims and say neighbour Whelehan and his parents, James and Bridget, launched a vendetta of malicious complaints about them. Graham, 40, said: 'His dog attacked ours. Marc asked him to put it on a lead and got a torrent of abuse. Whelehan started calling him a 'wee f*****g p*****r'. Marc was provoked and asked whether he had a problem with his sexuality and did his wife know he was in the closet. Marc reported it to police but we were stunned when HE was charged."

L.A. Galaxy owner: Beckham investment will be more than recouped by the time he arrives in July. Tim Leiweke: "David Beckham will do more for US soccer than any other activity in the young history of North America's top league. With David coming to play for our team soccer has made a quantum leap in terms of public awareness. His signing created such a huge interest that we should be able to make good on our investment before he even arrives in California in July."

Courtney Love and David LaChappelle hit Mr. Chow. Love jokes: "This is David LaChapelle ... and he is not a homosexual."

Gay man details persecution in Jamaica, failed attempt to seek asylum in the UK: "People [always] tell me that I walk like a girl. What happened is that a group of men drew me into St Michael's Church, and they used a stone and started knocking me in the head...Then, one of them told his friend to go for his gun to shoot me and throw me in a pit. I was begging for my life and telling them that I was not that (homosexual) and that I was coming from Bellevue. Then they buck up on (found) a letter that the doctor gave me from Bellevue, and they read through it and decided that I was a 'mad bwoy' and decided to let me go."

Cannes Water Lilies director Céline Sciamma comes out of the closet: "Hey, I'm gay. I don't know if I should say this. I always...resent the people who are gay, who could say it, and they don't. So I'm not going to do that. I have to be logical.”

Verdict: Liz Taylor can keep Van Gogh looted by the Nazis. "Dame Elizabeth, 75, bought the 1889 work, View Of The Asylum And Chapel At Saint-Remy, at Sotheby's in 1963 for £92,000. She keeps it in her Los Angeles home. The painting, completed by Van Gogh near the end of his life, is estimated to now be worth up to £8 million. The Orkin family sued Taylor for return of the painting in 2004. They are South African and Canadian descendants of Margarete Mauthner, a Jewish woman whose possessions were seized by the Nazis when she fled Germany in 1939. The Orkins claimed the work was among the items confiscated and that it should be returned to them under the U.S. Holocaust Victims Redress Act."

George Michael explains car troubles: "It involves prescribed drugs and it involves a dependency on them and the tendency to chase one drug with another because of side effects."

Presbyterian court upholds anti-gay policies: "The court ruled 8-3 that the presbytery could not call the ordination standards 'an essential of Reformed polity,' but while candidates could disagree with them, they still must adhere to them. The court also voted 11-0 that presbytery could prevent clergy from conducting same-sex marriages as long as they were able to bless same-sex unions, which the church's high court has upheld."

Gay Welsh referee selected for Rugby World Cup: "It's such a big taboo to be gay in my line of work, I had to think very hard about it because I didn't want to jeopardise my career. Coming out was very difficult and I tried to live with who I really was for years. I knew I was 'different' from my late teens, but I was just living a lie."

Timothy Greenfield-Sanders pays homage to the personalities that populate New York's Fashion Week each season in Look: Portraits Backstage at Olympus Fashion Week, which (for those of you in New York) he'll be signing at Barnes & Noble on 6th avenue in Chelsea this Friday evening from 7-8pm. On hand to meet and greet will be Richie Rich & Traver Rains from Heatherette (who contributed an essay to the book) along with Amanda Lepore (above right, who contributed her curvaceous bod).